6 County Parks Damaged or Closed by Storms Will All Soon Be Back in Business

Nearly all of the parks in Orange County that suffered storm damage and closure over the last three months are or will soon be reopened to the public, authorities said Monday.

At Caspers Wilderness Park, north of San Juan Capistrano, most of the trails damaged by heavy rainfall have been repaired and are now open, according to Tim Miller, manager of the county’s regional park system.

At Featherly Regional Park in Anaheim Hills, work is still underway to repair 18 damaged campsites, but the rest of the park is open.

Crystal Cove State Park rangers last weekend reopened most of El Morro Canyon and other backcountry areas to visitors.

Only the park’s East Loop and Rattlesnake trails remain closed because of serious erosion, said Michael Eaton, supervising ranger at Crystal Cove.

Aliso and Wood Canyons Regional Park was reopened a few weeks ago, but Miller said that recent rains once again washed out a creek crossing, forcing them to close portions of the 3,400-acre park that wraps around much of Laguna Beach.

“Unless we get extensive rain again, we’re probably looking at having it open in another two weeks,” Miller said.

Damage from the string of downpours beginning in January was far more extensive at Whiting Ranch, a wilderness preserve near Rancho Santa Margarita.

“We had five landslides and extensive erosion, especially at creek crossings,” Miller said. “Right now, the soil is still so wet we can’t get heavy equipment in there. . . . That park got three inches of rain” in the last storm.

Miller said he could not predict when work crews could enter the area or when the park might reopen.

“It’s all up to Mother Nature, but the sooner the better is our goal,” he said.

Part of Chino Hills State Park, east of Brea, will remain closed to vehicle traffic at least until May 1, Park Supt. Ron Schafer said.

The greatest damage occurred at the east end of the park, at the entrance on Bane Canyon Road, where floodwaters engulfed and dislodged a 20-foot-long section of drainage pipe, washing it 200 yards downstream.

Schafer said that there will be repairs to the entry road itself and that engineers are redesigning the drainage system in an effort to prevent future flooding.